EDITORIAL

Ready for a new year

Posted

It’s that time of year again.

Just days from now, students in our communities will join millions across the country in returning to the classroom. Recent weeks have seen administrators, teachers and staff making final preparations for the new year and, locally, those efforts have carried added importance with some significant changes on tap.

Perhaps nowhere is that more the case than Warwick, where a major school consolidation plan is being implemented.

The plan, adopted in light of declining enrollment, involves the closure of Aldrich and Gorton junior high schools and the conversion of Veterans High School into a junior high. Winman will remain a junior high, and Pilgrim and Toll Gate will remain high schools.

The consolidation has required a great deal of work to prepare facilities and has produced a contentious debate and legal fight over teacher layoffs. Additionally, the district and its teachers remain at odds over a new contract.

Cranston’s educational system will also see major changes with the arrival of the new school year. The implementation of all-day kindergarten across the district led officials to adopt plans to convert Hope Highlands from an elementary school into a fourth middle school, and to transition the sixth grade back to the middle school level. As in Warwick, the plans have involved much work to prepare school buildings. They have also required the shifting of staff members to meet the needs of the new setup.

Johnston’s schools are not in the midst of such a major shakeup, although there have been changes. Dennis Morrell, former principal at Ferri Middle School, has taken the reins at Johnston High School following the departure of Zachary Farrell. Matthew Tsonos will become the new principal at Ferri.

Of course, these developments do not constitute the full story of what’s happening in our schools.

Every day, our children are learning new skills and concepts, growing into the adults and citizens to whom our future will belong. They are doing so in a rapidly changing world, one more connected than ever before, and with the kind of technology at their fingertips that not so long ago would have been virtually unimaginable.

Their achievements extend far beyond the classroom. Volunteer work, participation in state and national competitions, earning of scholarships and academic honors, triumphs and team-building in gymnasiums and on athletic fields – these are the stories we are so often privileged to share with the community, and we greatly look forward to another year of doing so.

We remember, too, that none of it would be possible without the contributions of teachers, administrators, staff members, parents, family members, volunteers, taxpayers and many others in our communities who contribute to the success and well being of our children. We thank them for their dedication, and look forward to sharing more of their stories as well.

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